5 Total Body Exercises | California Family Fitness Sacramento, CA

Chair exercises are an ideal workout for people of all ages and fitness levels. The exercises facilitate movement at an appropriate level to increase fitness without adding the unnecessary risks that can arise during higher intensity, higher impact activity. Chair exercises require balance and stability making them very effective for toning the entire body.

Today, CFF will demonstrate a low-impact chair workout that can be made easy or fairly difficult by tweaking a few simple details. It targets all major muscle groups and is almost literally impact free. So whether you’re just trying to get in a quick workout at work or are trying to stay active while injured this is the workout regimen for you!

High Knees + Lateral Raises: You will feel this one in both your hip flexors and shoulders. Keep a nice steady motion going and don’t “throw” your limbs or use momentum.

Seated Leg Extensions + Overhead Presses: One leg at a time, lift your thigh from your chair and then extend at the knee so that your leg is straight. At the same time, push both hands up above your head in a press. Come back down and immediately repeat the motion.

Seated Side Bends: Place one hand behind your head and extend the other arm out straight. Lean as far as you can and control to the side with the extended arm, then squeeze through the oblique’s and abs in order to pull yourself back over for a stretch on the opposite side. Really focus on getting a squeeze in on each lean.

Assisted Sumo Squats: These squats are very deep and very slow; you will feel them in your gluts and thighs. Use the chair for balance, if you need to. Remember to keep your back straight and stick your butt out behind you in an exaggerated way.

Assisted Hamstring Curls: Using a very deliberate movement, bend at your knee and contract your hamstrings to bring your foot up to your butt. Use the chair for balance if you need to, or increase the demand on your core by using minimal assistance to stay steady.

These low impact chair exercises will burn between four to seven calories per minute, or 128 and 224 calories total. These estimates are for a woman of 130 lbs and a man of 180lbs. If you weigh more than that or if you use additional resistance or weights to do this routine, you could very easily burn more than that.